Butterfly House

We were able to take our first family outing, that Ari was really able to participate in!
We went to the butterfly house in St. Louis this weekend. Ari has been talking about butterflies so much we thought she would really enjoy it...and boy did she. She switched between sitting in silent awe and trying to jump out of the stroller yelling "Bai"..."Bai" (butterfly). You will see in most of the pictures Ari has her hands out...she really wanted those butterflies!

Family pic...it was hard to get her to stay still :)

Grandma!

Aunt Skylar!

Skylar found a dead butterfly...

I found a live one :)

Oh the pretty butterflies...

That one flew too close!

Chesse Face!

Ben's idea of entertainment...yes those are all cockroaches

We had an amazing time and would recommend it to anyone!

Ari Videos

Ok so many of you will probably think this is overboard, and it probably is, but if you don't like it, don't read my blog :)
I have been compiling video of Ari, trying to catch all the little things she is learning. I finally sat down to edit it, and this is what I came up with...8 videos, about 5 minutes total of crazy "Ari-isms."
First I tried to capture a lot of the words she is now saying...I counted today and she knows about 13 words.
"Shoes"

 "Ball"

 "Dada"

Bike "ba" and "Car"

A story about Ari learning to talk...Whenever we could go outside Ari would stop and point at the "flowers" (dandelions, etc.) in the yard and say "bai". We couldn't figure out what she was doing and pretty much ignored it. Then Ari started pointing to pictures of flowers in books and saying "bai". We figured it just must be her way of saying flower, but it was strange. It wasn't until Ben was reading her a book that had pictures of both flowers and butterflies that he realized that her word for Butterfly was "bai"! She thought that flowers were butterflies :)

Crazy Ari "dancing" or something...

Ari's Favorite Game "Chase Me!"

Cutest video ever :)

 And the best...Ari walking!

Ok so maybe this was a little overboard, but you got to see Ari!

Springtime (almost)

The weather has been crazy lately. It is really a late spring. We have some beautiful warm days and others that are freezing. Ari has developed a love for the outdoors. We have been working on getting our garden started, and she is content to play for hours while we work.  She rides her bike, colors with (and eats) chalk, plays with our neighbor's dog, and chases her ball around the back yard. 
The breeze-way that we have between our garage and house has been a real blessing. It has turned into another play-room for Ari (who, by-the-way, has learned how to open the door to go out there). One day I had left the door open on purpose to let her wander a little and she took her favorite toys out there one by one (which is quite a feat for a girl who is still crawling). 
Ari has discovered the joy of playing in and eating dirt, and there is plenty of it with a freshly tilled garden :) She also loves to "pick" flowers, then throw them away from her screaming...I don't know if they are scaring her or have a strange texture, but as soon as they are picked, they are something to panic over. 

Her bike is serious business :) And as a mom, I have totally loved it. It rolls on carpet and hardwood, it is easy for Ari to maneuver, and it has really improved her balance and walking skills. I wouldn't be surpised if I wrote another blog post this week about her walking ;)

Ari is also a "ham." She loves to make people smile and will do almost anything to coax one out of you. No one who sits behind us at church can keep a straight face through the meeting. When my tutoring students come over, Ari puts on her wildest acts to get them to laugh. When I say wild, I don't mean tantrums, I mean throwing herself  around the room while giggling, babbling, and picking up random toys. I caught one of her "ham" moments here. She is not supposed to take her blanket out of her bed, but she does. Here she is rocking it in her cradle. 
 Enjoy some videos. Some I have already posted on Facebook, but I know not all of you are on there. 

You may have noticed that I go on blogging "spurts." They mostly correlate to how healthy everyone is in the house. I got a bad cold about 2 weeks ago and Ari has been teething, oh which by the way, she now has 10 teeth! That includes 2 molars.  So blogging was not the top priority, but I hope you enjoy the catching up...